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Valve copies an approach of amazon that many (including, I believe, the USG) consider anticompetitive. Namely, requiring those who list on their store to not li
by f33d5173 3y ago
Valve copies an approach of amazon that many (including, I believe, the USG) consider anticompetitive. Namely, requiring those who list on their store to not list for a lower price on other platforms. This prevents competition on price, an issue because valve charges a 30% fee, which many consumers might like to save on.
- Clamchop 3y agoThe best source on this that I could find is from ArsTechnica: https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2021/05/why-lower-platform-fees-dont-lead-to-lower-prices-on-the-epic-games-store/ https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2021/05/why-lower-platform-fe... If it can be believed, then they don't appear to have an actual stipulation on this in their contracts, and Valve claims that the dispute isn't over pricing on other platforms but over selling Steam keys at less than the price on the storefront. That's a pretty big difference, if true. The story also looks at whether publishers pass on savings in platform fees to customers. Naturally, they don't seem to. If this is what you're referring to, it doesn't seem like a big deal. I wonder why these distribution channels are converging on 30% of sales. What's with that number in particular?
- Clamchop 3y agoI actually misread. The lawsuit itself is concerned with selling Steam keys, no claim from "sources close to Valve" necessary.